World
At least 44 people died and another 150 were hurt - many of them seriously - in twin terrorist explosions in Bombay. Suspicion fell immediately on Muslim extremists, with the Indian government noting that outlawed Islamic student groups had been involved in recent similar attacks. A local senior police official said "many jihadi groups" had been unleashed by "the enemy country," a reference to rival Pakistan. The latter's foreign ministry, however, said it deplored the attacks and condemned the targeting of civilians "in the strongest possible terms."
"Whatever the sacrifice," Hamas vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of four more operatives in a Sunday night missile strike by Israeli helicopters over the Gaza Strip. But none of the radical group's senior leaders were seen at the funerals of Ahmed Aishtawi, who Israel said was the liaison between its headquarters in Gaza and its cells in the West Bank, and three other men. Aishtawi was the second senior Hamas leader to die in targeted attacks in four days. Earlier Sunday, Israeli defense chief Moshe Yaalon said all Hamas "personnel" are targets for "pinpoint preventions."
Under the gaze of hundreds of foreign monitors, voters in Rwanda lined up at dawn for their first national election since the genocide of 1994. But although the election was being showcased as a sign of how far the central African country has come since an estimated half-million minority Tutsis were killed at the behest of Hutu extremists, there was widespread concern that incumbent Paul Kagame's iron grip on Rwanda might keep it from being democratic. He was expected to easily defeat two moderate Hutu challengers.
The best-case scenario for the six-sided discussions on North Korea's nuclear weapons program would be promises of further dialogue, Russia's deputy foreign minister said. Alexander Losyukov, arriving in Beijing for Wednesday's start of the scheduled three-day talks at a state-owned guest house, told journalists "it is hardly possible to achieve progress in the first round" of such meetings. For his part, US delegate James Kelly said little beyond, "We're looking forward to a direct and fair exchange of views."
A new alliance between the two communist rebel movements in Colombia emerged from secret negotiations for the purpose of escalating attacks against the government of President Alvaro Uribe, reports said. Analysts said they expect the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to dominate the alliance with the National Liberation Army (ELN) because it is better-financed and more than twice as large. FARC previously tried to absorb ELN, without success. The two formed an umbrella organization in the 1980s, but it soon collapsed.
